Conventional hand held paint spray guns are used by an operator grasping a handle and manually operating a trigger. Typically, compressed air is delivered through a hose connected to an end of the gun handle. For large commercial applications where the paint color and type are not frequently changed, the paint or fluid being sprayed is supplied to the gun through a hose which also is attached to the spray gun handle next to the air supply hose. By attaching the air and fluid hose to the gun handle next to the operator's hand rather than to the gun body, torsional forces on the operator's wrist which can increase operator fatigue are minimized. However, the two hoses can interfere with the mobility of the spray gun as the operator sweeps the gun over the surfaces being painted. If the hoses remain separate, they can become tangled and interfere with the spraying operation. On the other hand, if the two hoses are formed as an integral unit or are permanently connected together, they become stiff and greater operator effort is required to aim the gun in different directions.
A further problem can occur with kinking of the fluid hose when the fluid and air hoses are connected together. In order to minimize operator fatigue, it is desirable to make both hoses as small and light weight as possible adjacent the spray gun. Since the air hose must carry compressed air without bursting, it must be made considerably heavier than the fluid hose. If the light weight fluid hose and the heavier air hose are permanently connected together, the fluid hose will tend to kink if the spray gun is moved in a direction which places axially compressive forces on the fluid hose.